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1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 03 Mar 2015 19:23:00 +0100Happy birthday ice hockey!http://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9442
First organized game was played 140 years ago in MontrealMcGill defeated Victoria 2-1 in that game that the IIHF in 2002 formally recognized as the first organized ice hockey game played between two teams with a set of rules and a referee, although earlier references to forms of the game exist but not in form of an organized game.

A flat piece of wood served as what we now call a hockey puck for that game 140 years ago played with nine players per side and over a predetermined length of 60 minutes.

The rules, also called McGill rules, were set by James George Aylwin Creighton, who was instrumental in the early development of the game in the 1870s and often referred to as the “father of hockey”.

The site of the Victoria Skating Rink is only 150 metres away from the Montreal Canadiens’ Bell Centre but the rink became less profitable when the Montreal Forum opened in 1924. It was sold in 1925, torn down and used as a parking garage ever since.

The indoor ice rink was 200 feet long – one block between Stanley and Drummond Streets – and 80 feet wide located just north of Dorchester Boulevard (now Rene Levesque Boulevard). With dimensions virtually the same like a modern NHL ice sheet, the 1862-built rink did not only define the game but also how big an ice rink is supposed to be in North America.

The Victoria Skating Rink used to be one of the finest natural ice rinks also in the beginning of the 20th century and was the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff games in 1894 just at the street that, same as the Cup, was named after its donor, Lord Stanley of Preston.

MARTIN MERK]]>on topIIHF03 CanadaTue, 03 Mar 2015 19:23:00 +0100New job for Buschhttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9441
Former player becomes German women’s hockey appointeeThe 29-year-old represented Germany in 225 international games, most recently in the Sochi 2014 Olympics, but had to end her career as a player at that level due to an injury.

Busch competed in two Olympic Winter Games and eight Women’s World Championships (six in the top division) for her country.

After her apprenticeship as management assistant for office communication and joining the army in an athletes’ program she will soon begin her study in human resource management.

For Busch it was an easy task to accept the new job.

“[Thanks to this job] I can remain associated with high-performance sport. Having been on the ice for so many years I saw what was happening around us. I think like that I can use my experiences the best way to contribute to the development of German women’s ice hockey,” said Busch, who will represent German women’s hockey in domestic hockey, towards the IIHF and the National Olympic Committee.

“We are glad that we were able to secure the services of Franziska as a long-time women’s national team player for this responsible task,” the German Ice Hockey Association’s General Secretary Michael Pfuhl said. “Already as a player Franziska spoke up for the interests of women’s hockey and we are convinced that all female ice hockey players in Germany get a dignified representative of their interests in Franziska.”]]>on rightWorldsWomen08 GermanyTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:52:00 +0100Korean writes historyhttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9440
Kisung Kim named Asia League MVP, Ueno top scorerFor Korean hockey it’s another piece of history. Over many decades of international ice hockey Japan has been the virtually unchallenged hockey power in the Far East. But Korea (23rd) has overtaken China (38th) as the number-two country from the Far East in the World Ranking in 2010 and is now also challenging Japan (21st) especially in the Asia League.

The nine-team league with the top clubs from Japan, Korea, China and as of this season form the Russian island of Sakhalin had been won by Japanese teams from 2004 to 2009 until Anyang Halla became the first Korean club to win the league. Anyang was also co-champion with the Tohoku Free Blades one year later – the final series between the two teams was cancelled due to the earthquake followed by a tsunami that hit the two teams in the Tohoku region.

Anyang Halla captain and Korean national team forward Kisung Kim is among the leaders on his team. He scored 28 goals and collected 70 points in the regular season to rank him eighth in scoring with the same number of points like Kim Staal, the long-time Danish national team player with an experience of 17 World Championships (11 in the top division).

Also Kisung Kim’s linemates, Korean-Canadian Brock Radunske and American forward Mike Testwuide are ranked high while Japanese Nikko Ice Bucks forward Hiroki Ueno was the scoring leader with 40 goals and 40 assists as well as the top goal scorer. Also for the 28-year-old Nagano-born player it has been by far the best season of his career. Korean-Canadian High1 Chuncheon forward Michael Swift also had 80 points but scored less goals (34).

It is only the second time in history of the 2004-founded Asia League that an Asian-born player won the scoring race. In 2011 it was another Japanese national team player, Go Tanaka, who collected most points.

Kim Kisung, who holds the point record for the Korean national team in IIHF competitions, is the third player from Anyang Halla to win the MVP title after Radunske (2009) and Patrik Martinec (2010).

After the regular season the Asia League continues with the playoffs to determine the successor of the Nippon Paper Cranes Kushiro, who didn’t qualify.

Although last in the standing, one award went to China. Qiqihar in the north of the country was named the Asia League’s best hockey city by the league. The China Dragons held part of their games there with 2,000 to 3,000 fans in attendance – a sharp contrast to the last few years when the team played most games in Shanghai in front of a few hundred fans. Other home games were played in Harbin and Shanghai.

The Asia League Special Award went to China Dragons coach Keisuke Araki for the Japanese’s effort to strengthen ice hockey in China. Araki also coached the Chinese national team in the last three seasons.

That’s certainly the focus for Steve Moses. The American forward set a new KHL goal-scoring record in the regular season, with his tally of 36 putting him one better than the late Jan Marek (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 2008-09) and Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga, 2009-10). He opened his play-off account in game two against Minsk, smashing a one-timer off a Linus Omark pass and is now setting his sights on bigger targets than personal milestones.

“Of course we believe we can go all the way,” he said in the locker room after the game. “If you don’t think like that you’ve already lost. The Gagarin Cup is our goal and I’m sure everyone in this room is confident we can do that.

Prior to the play-off series Moses spoke about how playing the KHL helped him to raise his game after two seasons with Jokerit in Finland’s Liiga, and he’s full of praise for the competition.

“It’s a great league and people here are getting to see some great hockey games,” he added. “With the quality of players here you know it’s going to be fun to watch.”

Fans in Helsinki have certainly responded to that opportunity. More than 325,000 people attended Jokerit’s 30 regular season games at the Hartwall Arena, setting a new record for a season in Finland. If some had doubts about freezing old local rivalries with the likes of HIFK in the Liiga, the numbers through the door have answered those fears, at least from Jokerit’s perspective.

For many the attraction of seeing a Finnish team taking on the best Russian clubs offers a new allure, and that sense of representing the country also affects many of the players.

Defenceman Oskari Korpikari scored Jokerit’s game-winner in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Dynamo, helping to tie the series after an overtime loss in Friday’s opening clash. He has some experience of playing for the Finnish national team, including a World Junior bronze on home ice in 2004, and feels that some of the spirit of the international game can be found with Jokerit.

“When we play in the KHL it really feels like it’s a game for the national team,” he said. “When they are playing the anthems before the game it makes you feel that you are representing the whole of Finland.”

The quality of opposition is also close to international hockey, according to Korpikari. “There are lots of skilful players here and we’re up against the best in Europe night after night,” he said. “For players like me that’s a great chance to improve and to grow as a player.”

There’s another big attraction for Finnish prospects at Jokerit – the chance to work with experienced head coach Erkka Westerlund, the man who led Finland to medals at last year’s Olympics and World Championship. In those tournaments he called on several Russian-based players from the KHL, including Jori Lehtera and Leo Komarov, who now play in the NHL.

However, Jokerit’s recruitment policy did not rely on rounding up the existing Finnish contingent in the KHL. The club’s budget is relatively modest compared with the giants of the Russian game, so Westerlund’s roster is built on a mix of talent sourced from the national championship seasoned with a few old-timers including Niko Kapanen, Niklas Hagman and Juhamatti Aaltonen. As well as enjoying how his players have risen to the challenge, the coach sees some knock-on benefits for Kari Jalonen, his successor behind the bench for team Finland.

“The level of our games in the KHL, at least against the top teams, is similar to the World Championship or the Euro Hockey Tour,” he told IIHF.com. “Participating in the KHL gives our players a lot. It’s a great opportunity for Finnish hockey and I think we can see how it is already improving Finnish players.

“It’s a good thing for fans as well, especially when we are winning games. If we talk about the KHL as a product, as an entertainment, maybe it offers some extra value to hockey fans here in Finland.”

Even the projected problems – such as traveling 44,300 km to complete regular season fixtures from Vladivostok to Bratislava – proved to be manageable. “They warned us that the travel would be a big issue and it would be difficult to manage all the arrangements for the team on the road but in the end everything worked out well. I’d even say it was better than I expected.”

Results back up Westerlund’s thoughts – Jokerit’s away record was the third best in the competition, collecting more than 50% of the points on offer on its grand tour.

That record gives every reason for confidence when the Western Conference quarter-final series continues in Minsk on Monday evening with the teams are tied at 1-1 in the best-of-seven contest. There’s everything to play for, and having negotiated the regular season Jokerit is determined to keep putting a smile on its fans’ faces.

“We’re not hanging our hats [on reaching the play-offs],” said talismanic forward Moses. “We all have higher goals than that.”

ANDY POTTS]]>on topClub06 Finlandon leftMon, 02 Mar 2015 15:34:00 +0100Challenge Cup in Taipeihttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9437
Schedule online, 12 days to goThe top tier of the competition aimed at Asian countries not participating in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program or in the lowest tier will be staged in the metropolis of the island of Taiwan from 14 to 19 March 2015.

Defending champion Chinese Taipei will host the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Thailand and Macau, promoted from Division I last year, in Taipei City’s Annex Ice Rink.

Macau will play Mongolia in the early game of the opening day while the United Arab Emirates will face Thailand. Host Chinese Taipei enters the competition on the second day with its game against Macau. The tournament will end on 19 March with Chinese Taipei, the winner of 2013 and 2014, playing against the United Arab Emirates, the winner from 2012.

Click here for the full schedule.

The 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will take place from 18 to 25 April in Kuwait City. Host Kuwait will play against Kyrgyzstan, Singapore and India in Group A, Malaysia, Qatar and Oman will play in Group B. For Qatar and Oman it will be the first participation in an IIHF-sanctioned event since becoming members of the International Ice Hockey Federation in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Together with the Asian countries whose men’s national teams are only entered in the World Championship program – Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea, China, DPR Korea and Hong Kong – 18 Asian nations compete in IIHF tournaments this year.]]>on leftWorldsMenChinese TaipeiMon, 02 Mar 2015 11:25:00 +0100Sundin, hometown herohttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9436
Big Swede honoured at home; holds camp for immigrant kids Even if he had given it any thought, maybe he would have seen himself come back to the rink as an adult, and maybe a child could even imagine an indoor rink where the old outdoor rink was, and a practice rink next to it, and a full-size bandy rink next to that one, but he most likely didn’t think he’d be back at “Vallen” to unveil an image of himself on the wall of fame of the new rink.

Yet, that’s where Mats Sundin was on Friday, with his parents and a brother – all still living in Sollentuna – in attendance.

“This is fantastic, to get this recognition from my hometown. It’s one thing to get accolades in Toronto where I played most of my career, but this is extra special, because this is truly where it all began,” Sundin told IIHF.com.

It was not a black-tie event, there was no time for long speeches, there were no finely edited video clips on big scoreboards. Instead, there was some juice for kids, banana chips and nuts, and some coffee available on a table in front of the big image of Sundin carrying the puck in a white Maple Leafs sweater.

“This is perfect,” Sundin said, with a big smile. The same smile we got used to seeing after each goal he scored, both in Toronto and with the Swedish national team.

Getting your image on the wall of your childhood rink is special, but the real reason Sundin was back at Vallen was a hockey camp he was running for kids that have newly immigrated to Sweden. Among the 55 enthusiastic boys and girls were, for example, kids from Thailand and Uganda, who arrived in Sweden less than two months ago.

“I’m really inspired to do this kind of work. I saw in Toronto what a great job the club did with making sure that we weren’t just good hockey players, but also role models and leaders in the community we were parts of,” he said.

“Not everybody has the financial resources to play hockey, maybe there are other obstacles in their way, but thanks to a great sponsor, these kids get to try out hockey, and they get a nice start-up kit, too.”

The participants got skates, gloves, a helmet and a stick to keep. And, hopefully, to use in the future.

“It has been fun to see the kids’ enthusiasm, they’ve hardly wanted to eat lunch between our ice sessions and have run out to the outdoor bandy rink instead,” he said.

While Sundin had his spring break camp in Sollentuna, Djurgarden had theirs in Husby, an immigrant-heavy suburb ten minutes away, also for kids who haven’t tried hockey before. Over 2,000 kids have got to test hockey this season, 900 of them girls, in Djurgardens’s Husby camps.

“The key is to give them a chance to try it out. I’m sure that once you try it, you’re hooked,” says Tommy Boustedt, general secretary of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, who was also in attendance to watch Sundin unveil the image.

According to Boustedt, sports can still be a way to improve the odds on life. Maybe not as much as when he was a child in Hokarangen, a tough neighbordhood on the south side of town.

“Back then, you either smoked weed and drank beer or you played hockey and football. If you ended up in one group, things didn’t often go that well, but sports was a way out of it. I’d never be here today without hockey,” says Boustedt.

Sundin has now run his camp twice, and he hopes to make it an annual thing.

“I want to do it again, with new kids,” he says.

Then he takes his flowers, talks to a few old friends, and vanishes in the coaches’ room.

The kids step onto the ice wearing white sweaters with the Hockey Hall of Fame logo in the front, and number 13 on the back. Just then Sundin emerges and takes a few strides before he puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles twice.

Let’s play hockey.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>on topClub18 Swedenon lefton rightSat, 28 Feb 2015 14:43:00 +0100Eindhoven welcomes the worldhttp://wmib2015.iihf.com/en/news/welcoming-the-world/
Website launched for World Championship Division I Group B Having a rich history of organizing World Championships, the Dutch sports capital of 2013 has been without an international tournament since 2005. But that dry spell is to come to an end.

The Netherlands last hosted an IIHF World Championship Division I back in 2010 in Tilburg and that tournament was a big success. The host organization and the Ice Hockey Association of The Netherlands (NIJB) received raving reviews from the participating teams as well as the fans that showed up in big numbers.

With the Federation moving into the National Ice Sport Center in 2013, the city of Eindhoven expanded its claim for being one of the nation’s brightest sport cities. Boasting two stadiums of international calibre, the Pieter van den Hoogenband Pool and the Philips Stadium of former European Cup winners PSV, already the move of the NIJB to Eindhoven was welcomed with open arms.

A further tribute to Eindhoven is that the city was recognized as being one of the most economically successful regions in Europe in 2014. This is largely thanks to the presence of a high-tech campus which acts as a magnet for technology-oriented talents around the world.

The high-tech campus has also been involved in setting up a modern camera system inside the rink which is utilized by the national training centre under supervision of the NIJB.

“This training centre has the goal to not only be a centre were practices and games can be held, but also serves a purpose to be innovative towards developments in science that can help ice hockey as a whole,” says NIJB technical director Theo van Gerwen. “During the World Championship other countries can benefit from technological ideas that help coaches deliver a better product.”

The Netherlands are known as a small yet wealthy country. This offers them a great opportunity to organize international sports events on a small scale with quality accommodations while maintain low costs and being environmentally responsible.

All participating teams and their staff can sleep, eat and practise within a radius of 1 kilometre allowing them to walk or go by bike to the rink and hotel.

With that in mind, Eindhoven is looking forward making the 2015 IIHF World Championship Division I Group B a big success. With an international airport in its city borders, the city is eager to invite everyone to pay a visit and discover this vibrant city.

JOERI LOONEN]]>on topWorldsMenNetherlandson lefton rightFri, 27 Feb 2015 15:43:00 +0100Breaking new groundhttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9433
Hockey in Hungary's second city on the riseA fifth-place finish during the regular season secured Debreceni Hoki Klub's play-off berth in their debut season in the MOL Liga. But despite recent heartache at the first hurdle of the play-offs against last season's finalist, Corona Brasov, Debrecen's arrival to the cross-border league has been a breath of fresh air, much thanks to a club strategy that looks for support from Russia.

"In Hungary we have had a lot of coaches over the years from countries like Canada, Finland and Slovakia, but no Russians" said Debrecen's club president Attila Mocsari about the team's decision to open the window to the east during a management meeting a couple of years ago.

When the MOL Liga announced a new expansion team ahead of this season, Hungary's second city was the eighth addition to a league that features teams from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

But instead of carefully dipping their toes into uncharted waters, Debrecen decided to jump in with full force. With disciplinarian Evgeny Mukhin installed as head coach, the team was well-prepared for what was to come thanks to old-fashioned tough love from the bench and a strong sense of unity among the players.

Several Russians currently on the first team roster played an integral part in Debrecen's instant success. So has the club's clever recruitment of Hungarian talent that spans three generations, such as veteran team captain Balazs Ladanyi, with 19 senior World championships for Hungary, Akos Berta, a current Hungarian national team regular, and top prospect Norbert Hari.

"He is strict and has very hard training sessions, so I feel I have both developed and became stronger here," said Hari, Debrecen's 19-year-old forward about playing under Mukhin, a coach who previously worked within the Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg organisation.

While his older brother Janos is a star of Hungary's national team and a household name at MODO Ornskoldsvik in Sweden, Norbert opted to return to Hungary from Sweden midway through this season to play senior hockey, which in due course will make the Budapest-born youngster eligible to fulfil his dream to wear the red, white and green jersey of Hungary and line up alongside his elder brother at the international stage.

Compared to that at his previous club Orebro in Sweden's U20 junior league, Hari is facing a somewhat different challenge stepping up to senior level hockey in Hungary.

“Here, they are bigger, stronger and adults,” said Hari, who thrived under Mukhin's hard-as-nails guidance while playing alongside Russians Artur Kurilyuk and former KHLer Danil Kaskov. “But I just have to adjust to it so it's really not a big deal. I need to put on a few kilos, so playing here can be good for my development.”

Despite an outdoor rink being constructed in Debrecen way back in the 1970's, the city of just over 200,000 has mostly seen Debreceni Hoki klub languish in the now-defunct second division since it was formed just over quarter of a century ago. Back in 1989 the first seeds of cooperation with the east were planted as Igor Razov, a former Soviet Union army truck driver.

Swapping army life for ice hockey, Razov's career change saw him became a player for Debrecen and has since been a part of the furniture at Debrecen Hoki Klub. Today he is working as an assistant coach and translator to Mukhin, himself once upon a time a promising defenceman for the Soviet Union U20 national team with Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov before a coaching career ensued which last summer brought him to Hungary.

The emergence of a Mukhin's men and a new team from the east of the country entering the MOL Liga is a welcome addition for Hungarian hockey. While the historical stronghold for the sport is in the cities of Budapest, Szekesfehervar and Dunaujvaros, the arrival of the ambitious newcomers from the Great Hungarian Plain should also inspire Miskolc, a team which for long ploughed a lonely furrow in the country's East, but now have a regional rival which in due course could spur the two clubs on in their future development.

"With a new team and new organisation, we have built up everything from scratch in a very short time" said club president Mocsari. "We now have 200 kids playing hockey and we would like to add another 50-100 each year to build up a solid base," he said.

"As for the two oldest junior teams who are playing in the Slovakian junior leagues, we only have five players born in Debrecen in the U20 team, but for the U18 things are already looking better with a dozen or so from the city. Further down the ages all kids are local and we hope that in five to ten years the development pyramid will be much wider from bottom to the top."

Meanwhile, while the club is doing its bit to get things moving at all levels out on the ice, the local municipality is actively playing its part off ice, starting during the reign of the former mayor of Debrecen, Lajos Kosa, who today is the head of the Hungarian Skating Federation.

Debrecen's current home arena was inaugurated in May 2004 and last October a training rink was added next to it. A portable full-sized rink is also found next to the old defunct rink from the 1970's, where another ice arena is earmarked to be constructed if the sport shows some growth.

"Politicians in the city have said that if people like the sport, a new hockey-specific arena will be built holding up to 3000 people, which then would mean that we have a full-sized ice surface for each 50,000 living in the city, which I think is very good" said Mocsari.

A combination of hard graft from the playing staff and club's management added with a strong municipal support has this season contributed to Debrecen's success which has seen them supplant historical Budapest-duo Ferencvaros and Ujpest this season. By the looks and sounds of it, plenty more is yet to come.

HENRIK MANNINEN]]>on topIIHFClubHungaryon lefton rightThu, 26 Feb 2015 13:29:00 +0100CSKA celebrateshttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9432
After 26 years army team wins championshipThe KHL’s regular season finished Tuesday – and the name on top of the table proved to be something of a blast from the past.

CSKA Moscow, the Central Sport Club of the Army also known in the west as Red Army Team, took top spot and is proudly broadcasting itself as “Champion of Russia” on the club website as the most-titled organization in hockey history celebrates yet another prize.

Surprisingly, though, this season’s emphatic march to regular-season success represents the first significant trophy claimed by the army men since distant 1989 when the late Viktor Tikhonov led the team to its 32nd and final Soviet championship.

There has been no doubt about CSKA’s superiority this season: a haul of 136 points topped Salvat Yulayev’s previous record of 129. Along the way a 12-0 win over Slovan Bratislava set a new KHL record victory. Alexander Radulov, revitalized, finished with 24+47=71 for a plus/minus of +37, close to his best-ever season in Salavat Yulayev’s Gagarin Cup win of 2011. CSKA suffered just 11 defeats in 60 games. Yet few imagined such dominance would be possible at the start of the season.

Sergei Gimayev, a former CSKA player and now a prominent hockey pundit in Russia, described the campaign as a “fairy tale”.

“For a long time the fans here were so disappointed with the team’s performances but now they have calmly and confidently won the championship,” he told championat.com. “At the start of the season it seemed impossible that CSKA would win the title and set so many records. If someone said this in September I would not have believed it, but it happened.”

The grand reshuffle

There were good reasons for caution back in the fall. CSKA began with a new head coach, Dmitri Kvartalnov, who arrived with a good reputation. He had previously performed strongly with outsiders, taking Severstal Cherepovets into the play-offs before moving to Sibir Novosibirsk and handing a shock defeat to Ak Bars Kazan in last year’s post-season. But in Moscow he arrived with much to prove, especially when 16 new faces were suiting up in red-and-blue at the pre-season Mayor of Moscow Cup.

That included a new goaltending tandem of Stanislav Galimov and Kevin Lalande, the rugged offence of Yevgeni Artyukhin and Stephane da Costa, the first Frenchman to play in Russia.

The new arrivals reaped dividends: Lalande had the league’s best GAA with Galimov in the top five; Lalande also had a share of the third-best save percentage, stopping 93.4% of the shots he faced. Da Costa delivered 62 points, forming a profitable partnership with Radulov and Igor Grigorenko, while Artyukhin’s robust game saw him top the league for penalties (153 minutes) but also ensure that nobody would see CSKA as a soft touch.

The big names also created an environment where others could flourish. Grigorenko rediscovered something of a second youth, young defenceman Nikita Zaitsev visibly matured as the season progressed and rookies like Igor Makarov and Kvartalnov’s son Nikita also made some telling contributions as they slotted into a fully functioning team.

At times it was ruthless. Da Costa recalled how Kvartalnov demanded the team maintained its onslaught to the end during that crushing win over Slovan, not to secure a record but simply to instil the importance of keeping disciplined and delivering a game-plan for a full 60 minutes.

Nikolai Prokhorkin, one of the rising stars of the Russian game, was surprisingly despatched to play for the team’s farm club in Voronezh to recover his form; the trick worked, with the 21-year-old returning to produce a match-winning performance at Lokomotiv.

Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork

The key to CSKA’s success has been its teamwork. At various times key players have been missing through injury or suspension: Radulov and Da Costa missed 14 games each, Galimov is injury-doubt going into the play-offs and only Zaitsev and captain Denis Denisov managed more than 50 appearances in defence. Yet Kvartalnov’s team has kept rolling relentlessly all season, seldom dropping points against the league’s outsiders and always proving a match for the other top clubs.

Radulov, a monumental talent capable of game-winning genius and self-destructive explosions, often within moments of each other, has been a key figure – Kvartalnov has managed to tame his star’s more wayward impulses without shackling the forward’s creative inspiration too rigidly. That’s some achievement considering how many coaches have struggled with the question of how best to use perhaps the most frustrating talent in modern Russian hockey.

Kvartalnov’s strict focus also explains why nobody within the team has been talking up this season’s achievements yet. There’s still a play-off campaign to come and the head coach’s reaction to winning gold was typically brief: “I want to congratulate all of our great organization and its fans on winning the Russian Championship after 26 years, but there is no time to celebrate. It is a huge step to be champion of Russia but we have important games to prepare for.”

It was left to Vladislav Tretiak, a member of CSKA’s supervisory board and president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, to pay tribute to what Kvartalnov and his team had achieved.

“After last season we made the right choice to replace the coaching staff,” Tretiak said. “Kvartalnov had produced good results with his previous clubs and here he was able to create a team. I must stress that word, ‘team’. Before CSKA had stars but there was no team. As the President of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia I’m pleased that we are seeing the development of another candidate to coach our national team. CSKA has been consistent all season and we can only congratulate this team on its championship.”

The regular-season winner’s curse?

In the six previous KHL seasons no team has won the regular season and followed up with the Gagarin Cup. Twice, indeed, the table-topping team has crashed out in round one of the playoffs. CSKA faces league newcomer HK Sochi in round one, and the Black Sea boys served notice of their intentions on Sunday evening, taking the champion all the way before losing in a shootout.

However, while CSKA’s form after clinching the regular season suffered something of a dip – two defeats in five games, and no victories in regulation time –forward Yevgeni Korotkov remains confident that his team can overturn the history books.

“We have character in this team,” he said. “The coaches don’t allow anyone to ease up and we’re treating every game as if it’s the final battle. I’ve heard about this curse, that no team can win both cups, but finishing top of the league gives us great confidence and now it’s all down to us and how we play post season.”

Times have changed

When CSKA last won its national championship in 1989 it was the top team in the USSR. Within two years that country no longer existed, a geo-political trauma that also sent its shockwaves into the sporting world.

In 1989 only one Soviet-born player, the now little-remebered Viktor Nechayev, had played in the NHL, making three appearances for the Kings in 1983. CSKA’s Alexander Mogilny was about to head to Buffalo, blazing a trail that has seen 229 players from the USSR and its successor states head West.

In 1989 the USSR was the reigning Olympic hockey champion, and would repeat that triumph as the Unified Team in 1992. Today Russia is still waiting for its first Olympic gold as an independent nation, and has to look back to 2006 for its last medals in the international game’s flagship competition.

CSKA’s 1989 championship success was the 32nd in its history and since the first season of Soviet hockey in 1946/47 no team from outside Moscow had won the prize. In the subsequent 26 years the provinces have come to the fore, with titles going to Ak Bars Kazan (4), Metallurg Magnitogorsk (4), Torpedo/Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (3), Lada Togliatti (2), Salavat Yulayev Ufa (2) and Avangard Omsk.

Off the ice, Moscow was still waiting for its first McDonalds to open a short metro ride away from CSKA’s Leningradski Prospekt home. The official exchange rate traded one US dollar for 60 kopeks, compared with 62 rubles to the dollar today.

And now CSKA Moscow is finally back to its old glory with several players on the roster who were born in modern Russia or outside of the former Soviet Union.

ANDY POTTS

The KHL Gagarin Cup Playoffs start on Friday with the following pairings.

Eastern Conference:Ak Bars Kazan vs. Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg Sibir Novosibirsk vs. Traktor Chelyabinsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs. Salavat Yulayev Ufa Avangard Omsk vs. Barys Astana (KAZ)]]>on topClub15 Russiaon lefton rightWed, 25 Feb 2015 12:16:00 +0100Barta leaves national teamhttp://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-u20-championship/news-singleview-world-u20-ia-channel/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9431
Played 153 international games for Germany“It was a great time and an honour for me to be able to wear the national-team jersey. I collected many experiences that helped me a lot throughout my career,” the 32-year-old said.

Between 2004 and 2014 Barta represented his country in eight IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships (seven in the top division) and in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin.

His most successful moment came when Germany hosted the 2010 Worlds in Cologne, Mannheim and Gelsenkirchen and the host nation reached the semi-finals with three goals and assist in nine games from Barta.

Germany was close from eliminating Russia in the semis before losing 2-1 due to Pavel Datsyuk’s game-winning goal with 110 seconds left in regulation time. In the bronze-medal game it was Barta, who scored the game-tying goal but Sweden won 3-1 and Germany finished in fourth place, the best result for the country in 57 years at World Championships.

The centre, who was born in West Berlin, also played in the 2003 IIHF World Junior Championship. He’s currently under contract with EHC Red Bull Munich, the second-ranked team of the German DEL.